Say youre one of them summary

Say You're One of Them is a collection of three short stories and two novellas set in varying countries in Africa, all told through the narration of vulnerable children during moments of extreme upheaval in their lives. The story revolves around the family's decision to sacrifice their twelve-year-old to ensure that Jigana will be able to attend school and give the family a brighter future.

Jigana is overwhelmed with guilt that his sister must work full-time as a prostitute for his own benefit and by the end of the story, he removes himself completely from the family - in the hopes that it will also remove him from the guilt - by running away. At the opening of the story, Kotchikpa's uncle Fofo has just received a new motorcycle from a wealthy benefactor.

The same benefactor wants to make donations for Kotchikpa and his five-year-old sister, Yewa, to attend school. The benefactor, who soon come be called Mama and Papa by the children, ensure that the children are always well-fed, have new clothes, and that Fofo has plenty of new luxuries. Fearing that all this will be stolen, Fofo rebuilds the family hut and keeps all his belongings under strict lock and key, rarely taking them from storage and enjoying them.

Fofo begins holding informal lessons for the children, drilling them about fictional facts about their background in case they should be quizzed about their pasts by police officers on their way to Gabon with Mama and Papa. It soon becomes clear that Fofo is preparing to sell the children into slavery, and that Mama and Papa are human traffickers.

By the end of the story, Fofo has had a change of heart and attempts to escape with the children, but is eventually killed. The children are held under lock and key, but miraculously, Kotchikpa manages to escape, although he will be forever haunted by the screams of the sister he was forced to leave behind.

Its five stories—set in five different African countries—recount the terrifying and brutal experiences of African children in the face of extreme poverty.

The girls, who are both six years old, grew up very close, almost as sisters. The Muslim girl, Selam, was encouraged to eat whatever she felt comfortable with while at her best friends' home. There was no tension or conflict about religion, so it comes as a shock to everyone, including the reader, when the best friends are separated during the divide and told they are no longer allowed to play together.

Despite this ban, the girls escape to their balconies and mime messages to each other, proving that the heart speaks louder than words. He has been forced to make this trek after Muslim friends who owe him money accused him of being Christian so they could get out of their debt. They beat him and stone him until he was near death.